It's not a key sequence, I'm just selecting faces to move/delete. It's the "select connected faces" pop-up toolbar, from what I can tell. If I can't turn it off, then I would at least like to have it pop-up on left side of the cursor instead of the right.

Pre-selecting faces doesn't help, because I won't know which face might cause the move/delete to fail (via the show preview for the move/delete). Moving the cursor away from the pop-up also dosn't work because the pop-up is right on top of the next face I need to click. IT IS ALWAYS IN THE WAY. When I move the cursor to the next face, the pop-up comes back.

I either need to completely disable it, or have it pop-up to the upper-left of the cursor, instead of to the upper-right.

I'm an EDM electrode designer by trade, so I do A LOT of face moves and deletes.

As a side note, in regards to pre-selecting, SolidWorks has a real nasty habit of selecting EVERYTHING while control-clicking individual faces.

There is currently no way to disable this or change its position. While I realize its not an ideal solution for you, a potential work around is to press the escape key to dismiss the selection accelerator pop-up (while it is displayed) and it will not exit the command.

Have you submitted an SR about this behavior?

Also, have you run into anything else in the interface that is affected by being left handed?

I like tool bars, I just want them to stay exactly where I put them, and not move (whether by accident or of their own free will).

Recent File List:

I've already un-mapped "R" and removed it from my toolbar. What I want to limit, or disable entirely, is the Recent File List that shows the last 16 opened files. I want to limit it to 4, or disable it entirely. Microsoft has this functionality in their Office Products, I'd like to see it here too.

There is currently no way to disable this or change its position. While I realize its not an ideal solution for you, a potential work around is to press the escape key to dismiss the selection accelerator pop-up (while it is displayed) and it will not exit the command.

Have you submitted an SR about this behavior?

I don't know what an SR is, or how to submit one.

I was hoping there would be a simple registry tweak to deal with that bar. I see a lot of toolbar x,y settings under HKCU\Software\SolidWorks\SolidWorks 2013\User Interface. There are entries for over 60 different tool bars. I was hoping one of them would be the correct one.

Just so that you are aware, this has little to do with being left handed. It is a major pain in the backside for righthanded users as well. Whoever thought that this was a good idea should be hitting the bricks.

Well, I just assumed that most left-handed people prefer to work left-to-right, and that most right-handed people work right-to-left. The face slection pop-up doesn't seem to get in the way as much if you work right-to-left.

Even with simple angular rotations, they're ALWAYS in the wrong direction. My response to someone demonstrating the "right hand rule" is to "flip them off" with my right hand.

I do generally work left to right, but that danged popup is always just to the right of where I select, and the next selection hits it. I almost never was able to get the popup to give me any useful options, so I've stopped even trying. They need to either improve it to make it useful, or get rid of it.

I hear you. I can't tell you how many times I've accidentally clicked on that darn thing, and had it select the exact faces I did not want...

I hate it when software makers add all sorts of "features" they think we want, and then don't bother giving us the ability to turn them the heck off. Don't even get me started on CMM software Calypso by Carl Zeiss.

Yeah, and it's not bad enough that is selects faces that you don't want, but it also deselects faces that you've already selected, forcing you to start over. Very frustrating.

I'm not a big fan of software ever deciding what to do for me. One that really bugs me in SW is the desire to rearrange mates to correct a 'problem'. And giving no indication of what was changed. I wish there was a way to tell SW to never, ever, ever change a mate (or anything else, for that matter). Don't even give me the option of having the software help beyond making suggestions (ala the sketch over definition helper).

Shouldn't be a default coordinate system, IMHO. Should be something that the user sets, and it should be capable of using multiple coordinate systems. Real coordinate systems, not the shabby excuse that now exists. Ones that can really be used for creating geometry. Would be so nice.

My background is in maching as well. Z+ is always up, X+ goes to the right, and Y+ is straight back. And the long direction of a part or assembly is in the X direction. All done so that the part 'fits' on a machine. Not really necessary anymore, but in the old days, it had to be that way.

Side note: I read/responded to that thread a few months ago. Even with forcing SW to work in a Z-up environment, lines are still tied into Y being up. Most of the time, setting a line to "horizontal" will make it vertical, in relation to Z-up.

Interesting. In the two and a half years since I wrote the article, I've never had anyone indicate it was incorrect. I understand that the milling machine coordinate system has X as horizontal in the top view and Y vertical, but the one I've documented I believe is also common/valid. But, I'm interested in also documenting the X horizontal one if it is common. So, if this is the case, the Front plane becomes Top, and the Top plane becomes Back (not Front). The right plane remains the right plane. Is that correct and do others agree this is a common orientation that I should add to the blog post?

I did have to rename the top/front planes to make them "correct" for the standard z-up 3 axis layout.

Z is up, Z is the top plane and the top view.

X is right, X is the right plane and the right view.

Y is back, Y is the front plane and the front view.

Standard layout for every vertical mill, CMM, and EDM that I've ever used.

Y is not the back view, because you're looking at the front of the part, not the back. Z needs to be UP, not down.

Such a shame that SW can't even get default text positions correct. Any time you try to do text on the right side, it's rotated 90 degrees, even with the top plane forced to be the top... Look at where the Right Plane is located in both of our pictures: oriented to Y-up, not Z. Why must everything be geared to Y-up, for cryin' out loud? I can't even get XZ coordinates when on the XZ plane, it's always XY. It's also always XY coordinates on the YZ plane too, grrrrr.

Standard layout for every vertical mill, CMM, and EDM that I've ever used.

Y is not the back view, because you're looking at the front of the part, not the back.

So I don't quite get what you are saying here. You say "Y is back", but then say "Y is the front plane and the front view". Do you mean the Y axis is pointing towards the back of the part by that first part of the sentence but Y still defines the right plane/view? My reasoning for proposing to change the name of Top plane to the Back plane (instead of the Front plane) is so the plane name matches the view orientation. If you select what you have labeled as the "Front Plane" in your part and choose Normal To, you will end up viewing the back of the part, not the front. So, it seems to me, this plane is the Back plane, not the Front. Do you not agree?

With regards to this:

Such a shame that SW can't even get default text positions correct. Any time you try to do text on the right side, it's rotated 90 degrees, even with the top plane forced to be the top... Why must everything be geared to Y-up, for cryin' out loud?

Unfortunately, that's how it was originally programmed 20 years ago. Providing on option for both systems is not as trivial as one may think. While most references in the system are relative to planes and other geometry and not to the global coordinate system, there are some features that can be created using the global coordinate system and converting from one system to another or having parts/sub-assemblies with different coordinate system types mixed together in a higher level assembly could lead to many difficulties.

I can't even get XZ coordinates when on the XZ plane, it's always XY. It's also always XY coordinates on the YZ plane too, grrrrr.

I am guessing you mean the coordinates that you are shown when in sketch mode. SolidWorks always uses XY when in 2D on a plane. This is because planes can be in any orientation in 3D space and the two axis of the sketch don't always project down to or relate to the global coordinate axes.

Front view = SHOULD be front plane and front of the part WITHOUT flipping upside down

Right view = Right plane and right side of the part WITHOUT flipping on its side

No matter what view we set and what plane we set, they're still in relation to Y. Set Z to up, and sketch something on the right plane. Z flips on its side and Y is now up. Set Z to up, and sketch something on the front plane. Z flips upside down.

The entire default plane system needs to be customizable because it's just plain wrong as it is. Front is front when up is up, not when up is down. Right is right when up is up, not when up is on its side.

Even horizontal/vertical lines are in relation to Y, not to what is set to UP.

I'm to the point now where I'm willing to buy a personal copy of another CAD package because SW is annoying me to no end.

OK. I understand what you want, but as I indicated, it's not easily done because I'm not sure we'd be able to make files using a Y-up system compatible with files created with a Z-up system (or convert between the two). The best I can do for now is to try to make the blog post as accurate as possible to explain within the current system how to come close to replicating a Z-up system with the reset standard views, renaming the default planes, and perhaps adding some new planes that could be saved in the default templates to represent the other planes.

One that really bugs me in SW is the desire to rearrange mates to correct a 'problem'. And giving no indication of what was changed. I wish there was a way to tell SW to never, ever, ever change a mate (or anything else, for that matter).

Not exactly what you want but there is the Tools > Options > System Options > Assemblies > Prompt before changing mate alignments on edit option.

Yes, I have that option set. But the default is still to make the change. I"ve been in a hurry and accidentally hit 'Enter' before realizing what I've done. And then had to double check every mate in a 1000+ component assy to make sure nothing has moved. Not fun. BTW, you can say no, and have it not ask again.... for the session. Next session, it's baaaaccckkkk.